Strange Bedfellows
Synopsis Naruto and Guren find themselves trapped in the belly of the Three-Tailed Turtle with no way out. Guren attempts to attack Naruto but passes out from her wound. She then has a nightmare about asking Yūkimaru's mother for forgiveness, only for an image of Orochimaru to tell her that she can never ask for that. As she comes to, she realises that her wound has been bandaged by Naruto. Asking why Naruto had not killed her when she was passed out, Naruto tells her that he would never strike somebody who was not capable of striking back. Guren tells him that nonetheless they would have to fight one another, as only one person would escape and find Yūkimaru. Their conversation, however, is cut short by the arrival of a horde of Three-Tails mini clones, and Naruto saves the wounded Guren from being devoured. On land, Kakashi tasks Ino and Sakura with Yūkimaru's recovery while Shino, Lee and Tenten are to protect them in case Team Guren comes back for Yūkimaru. In the meantime, the others would begin their search for Naruto. Meanwhile, Kigiri, Nurari and Kihō are wounded from their battle and led to believe by Kabuto that they are near death. Eager for a chance to live, they beg him to save them, and he agrees on the condition that they retrieve Yūkimaru from the Orochimaru Search Team. In order to aid their quest, he gives them Orochimaru's cursed seals to grant them additional power. In their hideout, Yūkimaru comes to and believes he has lost Guren's crystallised camellia, only to find it. Sakura realises that Guren is the one he considers his home; Yūkimaru then surprises them by stating that he innately knows where Naruto and Guren are, and that they are trapped within the belly of the Three-Tails. Within the beast, Guren wonders why Naruto would have saved her when he could have left her to be killed, and Naruto states that he had no desire to do so. Naruto reveals to Guren that he is responsible for Yūkimaru's attitude towards her, but that was only because he did not know he would consider a subordinate of Orochimaru's as his home. Guren retorts by stating that Orochimaru has need for one who could control a tailed beast and that Konoha is hypocritical, as they already possess the power of the Nine-Tails via a jinchūriki and simply want Yūkimaru to increase their military power. Naruto tells her that Konoha has no need for the Three-Tails and surprises Guren by telling her that he is the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails. Although Guren is conflicted with her loyalty towards Orochimaru, she tells Naruto that Yūkimaru is the one who thinks of her and therefore he is the one she would return to. Naruto, filled with a resolve that they both escape together, explains that they should split up to cover more ground as they need to find a way out. Guren rhetorically asks how much ground two people can cover, only for Naruto to conjure up a thousand shadow clones; Guren, Naruto and his shadow clones then run throughout the beast's stomach as they look for a way out. Credits